Biden Rips Betsy DeVos A New One After Her Latest Move

By: Mackenzie Wright | September 10, 2017

While former members of an administration tend to stay away from criticizing those currently in charge, a recent development prompted Joe Biden to let loose.

Earlier this week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that Title XI is a failing amendment that needs rewriting. She slammed the Obama-era 'Dear Colleague Letter' written by then-Vice President Joe Biden that put in place a set of guidelines to remind colleges and universities to follow the Title IX law, and she announced new approaches to campus sexual violence reporting. Joe Biden was quick to respond.

In his famous 'Dear Colleague Letter' from April 2011, Biden sent a reminder that Title IX is the 'great equalizer' The title ensures that all students are entitled to 'an educational environment free from discrimination', and specifically notes that this includes sexual violence. The letter provides guidelines meant to help survivors, accused people, and university administrators to navigate the Title IX process.

Biden has been extremely committed to ending sexual assault on college campuses. The issue may have gotten national attention in recent years, but Biden has been working on it for decades. He's been a big proponent of Title IX being enforced, and even expanded.

Betsy DeVos spent a large portion of her speech at George Mason University’s Law School campus in Arlington, Virginia denouncing Title IX on Thursday. She seemed particularly disturbed about the 'wrongly accused'. She attacked campus reporting processes in particular, calling it a 'failed system' that is 'increasingly elaborate and confusing'.

DeVos said the 'Dear Colleague Letter' was being rescinded, and she announced to the crowd that 'the era of rule by letter' is over. DeVos proposed new approaches to reporting campus violence and a 'transparent notice and comment process to incorporate the insights of all parties'.

DeVos says her department will implement a new reporting model that would allow colleges and universities to work with local reporting centers that partner with state attorneys general and local law enforcement.

“No one benefits from a system that does not have the public’s trust,” DeVos said.

Biden shot back with a Facebook post saying that DeVos is on the wrong track.

“Sexual assault is the ultimate abuse of power, and its pernicious presence in our schools is unacceptable,” Biden wrote in a moving letter. “Policies that do not treat this epidemic with the utmost seriousness are an insult to the lives it has damaged and the survivors who have worked so hard to make positive change.”

Biden called for people to take action. "I’m asking everyone who has a stake in this fight to step up. Students, parents, faculty, alumni. Don’t just sit and watch. Speak up. Any rollback of Title IX protections will hurt your classmates, your students, your friends, your sisters. Make your views known."

The former VP also directed people to the It's On Us Facebook page. According to the page, "It's On Us is a rallying cry inviting everyone to step up and realize that the solution begins with us. It’s a declaration that sexual assault is not only a crime committed by a perpetrator against a victim, but a societal problem in which all of us have a role to play. We are reframing sexual assault in a way that inspires everyone to see it as their responsibility to do something, big or small, to prevent it. We are asking everyone to create an environment, be it a dorm room, a party, a club or a sports team, or the greater college campus, where sexual assault is unacceptable and survivors are supported."